WEBVTT - When Frugality Doesn't Cut It #157 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:02.440 Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I and 0:00:02.560 --> 0:00:05.960 Matt and today we're discussing when frugality doesn't cut it. 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:28.360 Schedule this episode, we're talking about frugality, you know, frugality. 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:31.080 That's that's a word that we use often. We we 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:33.120 we use it when we talk about being frugal or cheap, 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:37.000 but frugality, it's a mainstay of personal finances. It's something 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:39.800 that we come back to often. But like we're gonna 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:42.280 talk about this episode, is not always something that we 0:00:42.320 --> 0:00:46.360 can count on to make some big changes in our life. Yes, 0:00:46.440 --> 0:00:49.120 sometimes there are other levers that we need to pull 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:51.680 right in fru gality, we just can't cut back anymore. 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:53.760 And so that's kind of what this episode is about. 0:00:53.800 --> 0:00:58.120 If you find yourself having gone into uh personal finance, 0:00:58.440 --> 0:01:00.680 diving deep and you're realize, you know what, I've made 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:02.319 a lot of frugal moves, but I gotta do more 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:04.319 in order to get my finances kind of where I 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:06.400 want them to be. Well, that's what this episode is 0:01:06.400 --> 0:01:08.720 going to get into exactly. Matt. Before we get into that, 0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:11.880 let's do a frugal or cheap And this is a 0:01:11.920 --> 0:01:15.920 frugal or cheap or just playing funny or ridiculous. So 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:17.959 I saw this article. There's this guy follow on Twitter 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:21.440 and he called this article flushing money down the toilet, 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:24.039 And it's literally a little heads up of what this 0:01:24.160 --> 0:01:27.360 article is actually gonna be about. So he literally goes 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:31.440 through all of the things that cost money, about going 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:34.360 to the bathroom at home, and why you should take 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:37.120 your number two's at work instead of doing it at 0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:39.120 the house. Yeah, specifically number two is. It's it's not 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:41.600 about the number one is because with number two's there's 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:44.280 all these other expenses. You've gotta account for the candle, 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:47.360 toilet paper, you know, maybe an extra flush, because you 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:50.400 can't use the economy flush, right, like you go with 0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:52.680 the full flesh, not the half flesh. Just potentially that 0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:54.600 plumber call once a year that you're gonna have to 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:58.640 make in case, you know, it gets a little unwieldly. Well, 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:00.720 what I love about that article, and we'll post this 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:02.640 up in our show notes, but I love that he 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:06.400 dove so deep and so hardcore into the numbers. Uh, 0:02:06.480 --> 0:02:09.639 there's even a calculator so you can assess your own 0:02:09.680 --> 0:02:12.799 personal situation, your own usage. Yeah, So since we're talking 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:15.120 about frue gality, I just thought that was funny because 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:19.959 a super frugal person would probably potentially think about something 0:02:20.000 --> 0:02:21.840 like that. And I'm not gonna say it's something I've 0:02:21.880 --> 0:02:24.079 never thought about before. I just never have dug into 0:02:24.080 --> 0:02:25.720 this amount of detail. Yeah, if it's something that you 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:27.120 can kind of keep in the back of your mind 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:29.920 and that can slightly modify your behavior, I'm like, all right, 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:31.640 well then it's just a little more natural. But it 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:33.760 feels cheap if you're going way out of your way 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:37.520 in order to make number two happen while you're at work. Well, 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:40.519 we'll say, for me working from home, this isn't something 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:43.680 I personally can can do, right, Like, my office is 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:47.000 my home, So for us, that's an expense we realize ourselves, 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:50.119 except home office deduction. Oh that's good point. Yeah, there's 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:52.359 a percentage because I use a room in our house, 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:53.880 so you get to write off some of your utilities. 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:55.680 It's a well a percentage of the size of your 0:02:55.720 --> 0:02:59.200 home and then utilities as well, so boom, I can 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:01.960 go whenever I want. I think one of my favorite 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:05.480 parts about the post, besides the calculator, is that he 0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:07.720 calls it. You know, we talked about opportunity costs. When 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:12.120 we talk about money, he calls it the poopportunity cost. So, yeah, 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:14.760 it was clever. If anybody wants to mess around with 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:17.519 that calculator and your poop jokes to Joel, yeah, feel 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:19.280 free to tweet your best poop jokes at us. I 0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:21.080 didn't totally understand the part that he's talking about the 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:23.720 opportunity cost. Is he saying that while you're at work 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:26.440 you're missing out on you know, what he's saying is 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:29.000 if you poop at home as opposed to pooping at work, 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:31.560 there's this opportunity cost of your money because while you're 0:03:31.560 --> 0:03:33.679 at home, you're spending your own money, your own time, 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:36.640 on the water bill, on the candle, on the running 0:03:36.640 --> 0:03:38.400 of the fan with the electricity, all that kind of 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:42.280 st So obviously it's just a little bit. It's a 0:03:42.280 --> 0:03:45.440 little poofy, but you know, especially since we're talking about 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:49.440 frugality and maybe win frugality doesn't cut it well, this 0:03:49.920 --> 0:03:52.120 kind of went a little too far, but super funny 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:54.040 and and definitely worth talking about on the show. Yeah, 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:55.720 we'll share that with y'all as well. All Right, man, 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:57.280 let's quickly mention the beer that we're having on the 0:03:57.280 --> 0:03:59.920 show today. This beer, Man, I've been drinking this for 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:03.760 over ten years. This is Hibernation Ale is old school, Yeah, 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:05.880 by Great Divide Brewing. Well, you said you've been drinking 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:07.320 it for ten years. I don't think i've had it 0:04:07.520 --> 0:04:10.440 in eight years. It's been four ever since I've had 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:12.960 this beer. This is one of those that I think 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:15.600 you and I both kind of fell into years ago. 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:18.840 But this is one that we've st you know, let's 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:20.360 kind of set on the backshelf a little bit when 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:21.839 you when you go to the when you go to 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:23.240 the beer shop and you see it, any kind of 0:04:23.520 --> 0:04:24.840 a little tip of the cap to it, but you 0:04:24.880 --> 0:04:26.680 don't really pick it up. I'm glad that we are 0:04:26.720 --> 0:04:28.719 able to share this one today. I mean, this is 0:04:28.720 --> 0:04:30.440 an old aale and I love a good old alee. 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:32.360 So we will talk about this one at the end 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:34.680 of the show. But for now, Matt, let's get onto 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:37.640 the topic at hand. We're talking about when frugality doesn't 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:40.000 cut it, when it's not enough, and Matt, you and 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:42.520 I both agree that frugality is a great tool in 0:04:42.640 --> 0:04:45.960 our personal finance. Swiss Army Knife. We're pretty approval fell 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:49.160 as ourselves, and we love seeing the frugal steps that 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:52.560 our friends and our listeners are implementing into their lives. 0:04:52.760 --> 0:04:54.760 Oftentimes they're doing things that we hadn't even thought of, right, 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:57.440 And it's encouraging to see that. It's inspirational and it's 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:00.440 educational for us. It's creative as well. Yes, I love 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:03.440 that super creative stuff. I love just seeing how people 0:05:03.480 --> 0:05:05.800 are saving money and it just makes me want to 0:05:05.800 --> 0:05:08.280 go harder after saving more of my own and making 0:05:08.279 --> 0:05:12.360 frugal cuts. But frugality alone doesn't cut it. There are 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:15.080 times when we need to prioritize other tools in our 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:18.479 personal finance Swiss army knife to help us achieve our 0:05:18.480 --> 0:05:21.160 money goals. So today we're going to discuss the role 0:05:21.240 --> 0:05:23.920 that frugality should play in our financial lives and how 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:27.520 to use the other tools at your disposal when just 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:31.160 adding more frugal hacks to our life won't do the trick. 0:05:31.240 --> 0:05:33.960 That's right, man, So let's go ahead first and define frugality. 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:36.279 There are a lot of different definitions of what people 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:38.360 consider to be frugal, right, I mean, you and I 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:39.880 we go back and forth often on the show, and 0:05:39.920 --> 0:05:41.599 we say, is this frugal or is this cheap? Like 0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:44.839 even our own definition of frugality and cheapness can vary 0:05:44.880 --> 0:05:47.880 depending on the specific situation, but for this episode, here's 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:51.599 how we're gonna define frugality. Frugality is the small changes 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:54.279 that you can make by cutting around the periphery of 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:56.840 your budget. Right. So some of these changes can be 0:05:56.920 --> 0:05:59.360 bigger than others. It could be as big as maybe 0:05:59.360 --> 0:06:02.080 cutting cable. What can be as small as making your 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:05.920 own soap, or maybe even flushing one less time because 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:09.400 you are going number two at work, right, But frugality 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:12.680 is essentially looking at those line items and seeing how 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:14.719 you can save a few more dollars every single month. 0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:16.560 You're kind of you know, you're you're tightening the belt 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:18.960 just a little bit more, trying to squeeze a few 0:06:18.960 --> 0:06:21.000 more cents out of that line atom. Yeah, yeah, we 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:23.960 are of course all about this. You shouldn't skip out 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:25.960 on frugality as you're on your journey to achieving your 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:28.680 financial goals. You have to use it well. But there's 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:32.240 some obvious limitations to frugality because it can only take 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:35.120 you so far. Some folks have a greater need to 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:38.479 practice extreme frugality, right, But lots of people listening to 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:41.880 this podcast likely don't fall into this category. If you 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:44.920 have a smartphone, you listen to podcasts, and in particular, 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:48.160 if you're listening to a personal finance podcast, the likelihood 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:51.679 that you have the ability to make other impactful changes 0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:54.320 is pretty high. But before we get into those changes, 0:06:54.360 --> 0:06:57.560 let's talk a little more about frugality and how we 0:06:57.600 --> 0:06:59.640 should view it. Yeah, dude, So, I think the first 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:02.200 thing when to cover is how pretty much everything in 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:04.800 our budget should be initially on the table when it 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:07.640 comes to making some of those cuts. Right, we should 0:07:07.680 --> 0:07:10.560 reconsider most of the expenses in our lives and not 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:13.520 assume that anything is untouchable. This is reminding me of 0:07:13.520 --> 0:07:16.560 our interview with Liz, miss frugal Wood's. We talked with 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:19.000 her about how she and her husband they cut their 0:07:19.000 --> 0:07:20.760 own hair at home, and by the way, that's something 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:22.560 I do as well. Yeah. Have we ever talked about that? 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:24.360 I don't. I think you've mentioned it before. Have you 0:07:24.360 --> 0:07:26.760 talked about how I've cut your hair before? I think 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:29.560 we might have posted a picture on Instagram one when 0:07:29.560 --> 0:07:31.040 you cut my hair, did you like? Dude? I don't 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:32.320 have time to get a haircut. I don't want to 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:34.560 pay the money as well. Our families were at the beach. Yeah, 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:37.760 it's small aside. Anyway, I will say we're pretty frugal. 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:39.480 Not the best hair could I've ever had, also not 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:42.000 the worst, so I'm fine with them where in the middle. 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:43.960 So you know, we talked with her about how they 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:46.720 cut their own hair. She also has this large, massive 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:49.520 CEO two tank where she can make her own carbonated 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:52.160 water and instead of buying lacroix or instead of even 0:07:52.240 --> 0:07:55.200 using her soda stream with a little CEO two cartridges 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:57.120 I guess, which are a lot more expensive. There are 0:07:57.160 --> 0:07:59.320 all sorts of ways that we can creatively cut back, 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:01.880 and sometimes when we think that we are frugal, we 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:04.880 actually aren't. Right, So we just haven't done enough research 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:08.080 to see what other options might help us to save 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:10.560 even more money. Our culture isn't a one that lends 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:14.120 itself to frugality. That's an understatement. Yes, Like there are 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:16.920 probably a lot of different frugal hacks that you haven't 0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:19.840 considered yet. We've talked about free stuff, we talked about 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:23.560 cutting the cord. Even cheap cell phone providers more frugal 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:26.520 knowledge and implementation can have a real impact for the 0:08:26.520 --> 0:08:29.280 majority of us. Yeah, so I think it's important to say, 0:08:29.520 --> 0:08:33.000 just one more time, we're not talking trash about frugality. 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:35.920 We love yeah, exactly, there's so many good things that 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:38.680 frugality adds to our lives, and even just honestly, the 0:08:38.720 --> 0:08:41.520 money savings is big, but just kind of that ability 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:43.920 to realize that we can do with less is a 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:46.600 huge part of why we love frugality. Oh and also too, 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:48.520 and it can only not save you money, but I 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:50.080 think there's a lot of joy that can come from 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:52.680 being frugal as well. Like we've talked before about obviously 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:55.760 using public libraries, right it's another mainstay right there next 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:59.319 to frugality. But recently, man, we've been using the Libby 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:02.480 appohole because I've sinked it with my kindle and so, 0:09:02.600 --> 0:09:04.800 which is amazing because now I'm able to pull up 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:07.800 books from the library on my phone in the Libby 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:10.200 app and then instantly send them to my kindle. Dude, 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:12.360 this has been huge for us. I've been reading The 0:09:12.400 --> 0:09:14.920 Magic Treehouse to my girls. They love it. It's a 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:16.760 ton of fun and if they're really into it, I 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:18.439 can literally pull up the next book and have that 0:09:18.559 --> 0:09:21.080 into my kindle instantly. So I'm just saying that it's 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:22.319 just a ton of fun. We've gotten a lot of 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:24.440 value out of that. Ensure. We could purchase the e 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:27.120 version of it on Amazon, right but they're about four 0:09:27.160 --> 0:09:28.839 dollars a pop and we've already burned through six of 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:30.400 those books. So that's twenty five bucks right there that 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:33.040 I've saved, just a small frugal win. Yeah, And I mean, 0:09:33.080 --> 0:09:35.520 I think the more that we are have our eyes open, 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:37.880 and so much of that does involve kind of bringing 0:09:37.920 --> 0:09:40.200 in other voices that have a lot of wisdom on 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:43.120 how to become more frugal, how to save money, what 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:45.319 areas you can cut back, what apps you can use, 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:47.520 wright stuff like that. There's all sorts of frugal tips 0:09:47.520 --> 0:09:49.719 and tricks out there that you know, there's a lot 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:51.960 that we aren't privy to, and we rely on our 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:54.160 listeners and our friends to kind of hear more about 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:56.520 those things. But yeah, I think you're right. Yeah, frugality, 0:09:56.600 --> 0:09:58.839 it can be kind of uh fun, it can be 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:01.120 a joy. We can almost also kind of gamify our 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:04.440 ability to to institute frugality into our lives are but 0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:07.440 I think it's also important to be warned. Extreme frugality 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:11.760 can have negative consequences in relationship to our money and 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:14.599 to others, and it can also have negative consequences just 0:10:14.640 --> 0:10:17.240 for ourselves because it might not be fun to cut 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:20.000 back on some of those expenses that we truly enjoy 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:21.960 in life, right, Matt, Like, if we try to over 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:25.840 frugalize our use of craft beer, Uh, it would probably 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:27.760 be pretty miserable. That's why we kind of set out 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:30.600 a few things in our personal lives that we're willing 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:33.040 to say, you know what, We're not gonna let frugality 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:35.199 really touch those areas of our lives because those are 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:38.160 places where we've decided it's important to put our money 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:40.760 it aligns with our values. And so, like, let's give 0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:44.360 an example here. I think avoiding expensive coffee typically is 0:10:44.400 --> 0:10:47.160 a pretty smart move, right. If you go out every 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:50.319 single morning to to get a four or five dollar coffee, 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:52.680 that can add up and and it really does equate 0:10:52.720 --> 0:10:56.120 to a major expense in your life. But not spending 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:59.680 that four dollars just wants to have a great two 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:02.319 hour conversation with a friend, Well, I think ultimately that's 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:05.679 kind of being more cheap, and that's letting extreme frugality 0:11:05.840 --> 0:11:09.360 infringe on having a great conversation with a friend. Yeah, 0:11:09.360 --> 0:11:12.200 that's a classic example of imposing your cheapness on somebody else, right, 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:14.760 because it's affecting that relationship. So it can definitely have 0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:18.319 a negative impact on that relationship. By the way, Okay, 0:11:18.360 --> 0:11:19.920 what if you were going to a coffee shop to 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:23.440 meet a friend and they were already there and they 0:11:23.440 --> 0:11:26.200 didn't have coffee, and they're sitting there, what would you do? 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:28.760 I'd buy their coffee? Would you buy their coffee? Yeah? 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:33.480 What if they don't want coffee? What do they want? Well, 0:11:33.520 --> 0:11:35.120 what I'm what I'm saying, What I'm getting to is 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:37.400 that you're using the space of the coffee shop and 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:40.120 it looks like they're not going to get coffee. Would 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:42.800 you get coffee for yourself? Yeah? I mean I think 0:11:42.800 --> 0:11:45.439 it's it's probably really cheap to take up a table 0:11:45.720 --> 0:11:48.000 coffee shop and not have purchased anything. But that's what 0:11:48.000 --> 0:11:50.000 I'm getting too. That's not cool. Yeah. So I mean 0:11:50.000 --> 0:11:51.600 if if I got there that you know, my friend 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:53.400 was already there and they had a cup, I feel 0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:54.920 like that kind of puts me off the hook a 0:11:54.960 --> 0:11:56.480 little bit. I'm like, Okay, I can get a cup 0:11:56.480 --> 0:11:58.360 of coffee to kind of join them. You know, there's 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:00.160 a lot of things to consider here. It also gives 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:02.000 me the freedom maybe to not go ahead and get 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:04.320 that fancy latte that I'm going to be tempted to get, right, 0:12:04.800 --> 0:12:09.000 carmelatte or a quartado. That's my favorites are so good. Yeah, 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:11.640 well yeah, I think really more than anything when it 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:15.440 comes to the negative consequences that frugality can can bring. 0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:19.400 It's not to say that frugality has to have these 0:12:19.440 --> 0:12:23.320 bad ramifications. It doesn't have to affect your relationships negatively, 0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:26.200 but I think it's just important to mention that it 0:12:26.600 --> 0:12:29.440 can write. You know, if we're not careful, and if 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:32.680 we let frugality kind of take the driver's seat in 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:34.520 our life as opposed to kind of be in that 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:37.559 passenger person holding the map helping us out. You know, 0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:39.040 if we let it take over the driver's seat, it 0:12:39.080 --> 0:12:40.840 really can run them up, and it can hurt hurt 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:43.600 our relationships and the people closest to us. Completely agree. Man. 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:45.959 Something else to keep in mind is that if you 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:49.280 are an extreme frugal light, there is also a diminishing 0:12:49.360 --> 0:12:53.480 value to continuing to make hard attempts at frugality. This is, 0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:56.959 you know, when maybe the effect is in full force. 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:01.120 Your initial frugal cuts can be quite helpful, allowing for 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:04.240 some major financial breathing room, But then those secondary frugal 0:13:04.240 --> 0:13:07.200 moves will offer far less benefits. I'm thinking of For instance, 0:13:07.520 --> 0:13:09.240 you might be spending over like a hundred and sixty 0:13:09.240 --> 0:13:12.160 bucks a month on cable, and over the years you've 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:14.480 also picked up a number of those different streaming services, right, 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:17.160 and so you're just paying way out the nose for 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:20.400 all the TV that you don't actually watch, when in reality, 0:13:20.480 --> 0:13:22.559 you can make some pretty big cuts. And you know what, 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:25.800 Hulu last Black Friday, they did that two dollar a 0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:28.480 month deal again. And if you happen to snag that deal, 0:13:28.600 --> 0:13:30.160 you might say, you know what, I can get about 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:34.280 eight of all of my TV watching done through Hulu 0:13:34.440 --> 0:13:36.960 for two bucks a month. That's the savings of one 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:40.560 and fifty dollars if you're paying one sixty before. And 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:43.560 that first cut is huge, massive, But guess what, you 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:46.160 probably don't need to be agonizing like should I cut 0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:48.240 that two dollar a month Hulu? Don't worry about it, 0:13:48.280 --> 0:13:50.760 Like who cares? It's only two dollars, But those bigger 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:53.959 cuts certainly can be worthwhile. But just make sure you're 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:56.040 not getting bogged down in the details and the minutia 0:13:56.160 --> 0:13:58.600 and just all the nitty gritty of trying to reduce 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:00.960 your expenses even further when there's a little chance of 0:14:00.960 --> 0:14:03.680 that maybe actually even happening. Yeah, the first frugal cut 0:14:03.920 --> 0:14:07.240 can yield major results. And then those smaller frul cuts 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:09.679 that we try to make sometimes maybe we're putting too 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:12.240 much time, too much effort, and we're we're thinking too 0:14:12.280 --> 0:14:14.040 hard about that when there are other things that we 0:14:14.040 --> 0:14:17.160 can be focused on that can help us make bigger 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:19.720 moves with our money, bigger moves with our personal finances 0:14:19.840 --> 0:14:22.160 as opposed to that two or three dollar cut, Right, 0:14:22.440 --> 0:14:24.720 And so let's talk about those things, Matt. Let's talk 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:27.119 about those bigger moves that we can make win. Frugality 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:30.280 isn't enough, And we'll get into that right after the break, 0:14:39.440 --> 0:14:41.000 all right. So we're back from the break, and we're 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:43.840 gonna talk now about some of those bigger expenses, some 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:45.280 of those bigger things in our life that we can 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:48.520 focus on in order to make some big changes when 0:14:48.560 --> 0:14:51.520 it comes to our finances. Yeah, the way we initially 0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:54.120 defined frugality, we said it's cutting around the periphery of 0:14:54.120 --> 0:14:56.880 our budget. It's those smaller trims that we can make, 0:14:57.160 --> 0:14:59.160 and when frugality doesn't cut it, we have to make 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:01.160 major t So we have to take an ax to 0:15:01.200 --> 0:15:03.560 those big things, right. Yeah, not around the periphety, We're 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:05.680 going straight to the heart of it. Yeah, it's okay, 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:07.280 a quick example for you that before we kind of 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:09.400 launch into those let's talk about eating maybe a little 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:12.720 bit healthier. In the same way that frugality won't cut 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:15.160 it when it comes to our finances, there are I 0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:18.040 think other areas in our life where the same principles 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:20.000 at play. So, for example, I think about the food 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:22.960 we eat and trying to stay maybe a little bit healthy. Right, 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:25.040 So an attempt to do that, you might be making 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:27.560 the switch from regular ice cream to the ice cream 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:29.480 that has maybe no sugar added or even the low 0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:32.280 fat stuff right gross. Yeah, Yeah, we don't need to 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:35.800 get on that. So while that might make a difference, 0:15:35.880 --> 0:15:37.400 if you really want to move the needle, what you 0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:39.520 should be doing is you shouldn't be looking at low 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:42.680 fat ice cream. You should be looking at not eating 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:45.200 ice cream altogether. You need to you need to avoid 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:46.800 having that bowl of ice cream right before you go 0:15:46.840 --> 0:15:48.840 to bed like that's what's gonna make the big difference, 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:51.160 or or or sparing lee every once in a while. 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:52.880 You know, you have a bowl of ice cream, but 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:55.240 but good stuff every now and then. But if you're 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:57.480 eating the low fat every single night before bed, you're right, yeah, 0:15:57.520 --> 0:15:59.280 that's not a good move. Also, see how this food 0:15:59.320 --> 0:16:02.760 example parallel how we approach beer. Yeah true, but it's 0:16:02.760 --> 0:16:05.680 those paradigm shifting ways of looking at a problem completely 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:09.360 differently that'll actually lead to massive change, not just those 0:16:09.400 --> 0:16:11.640 tiny little frugal tweaks. Yeah yeah, So that one of 0:16:11.680 --> 0:16:14.640 the major ways that we are able to move the 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:17.320 needle wind frugality isn't quite enough is to look at 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:21.760 the major expenses in our lives. When frugality just isn't 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:24.760 gonna cut it, it's time to go big, right, So 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:28.200 let's look at a few areas in our budget where 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:32.080 we're talking about these major hacks as opposed to just 0:16:32.440 --> 0:16:35.880 cutting around the edges, just nibbling and taking off pennies 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:39.720 and dollars. Well, of course, housing is probably the biggest 0:16:39.760 --> 0:16:41.640 line item in your budget, So let's talk about that 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:45.200 real quick. Yeah, on average dude, Americans of their budget 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:47.440 goes towards housing that is a massive amount. That's a 0:16:47.440 --> 0:16:51.040 big chunk. So instead of focusing on the smaller things 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:54.000 like letting it mellow in between flushes or pooping at 0:16:54.040 --> 0:16:56.440 your place of work, it's important to look for ways 0:16:56.480 --> 0:16:59.960 to drastically make changes. And so, yeah, one of those 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:03.120 things might be house hacking that's putting an extra room 0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:06.159 on Airbnb, or looking for acute duplex so you can 0:17:06.200 --> 0:17:08.359 have a full time tenant next door. You might want 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:11.480 to consider downsizing alltogether. Maybe you realize that you don't 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:15.960 need all the space that you have anymore or ever, right, yeah, 0:17:16.040 --> 0:17:17.920 or maybe you've never needed that space and you're just 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:20.480 finally realizing that. Yeah, And so you realize you're living 0:17:20.480 --> 0:17:22.240 in three thousand square feet and you're like, you know what, 0:17:22.440 --> 0:17:25.760 square feet would do me just fine, and it would 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:28.119 simplify my life a good bit and at the same time, 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:30.800 it would save me a whole lot of money every month. 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:34.360 You might even want to think about relocating. Ask yourself 0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:36.480 why it is that you live where you do. Going 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:38.320 through that exercise can really help. I mean, I think 0:17:38.320 --> 0:17:41.119 there's all these ways that we can consider tackling the 0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:44.040 problem of how much housing costs us every month. And 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:47.919 if you can lower your housing costs from your budget 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:50.080 to twenty of your budget, if you can make a 0:17:50.119 --> 0:17:52.359 big move like that, well then we're not talking about 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:55.480 getting rid of a ten dollar streaming service. We're talking 0:17:55.520 --> 0:17:58.360 about moving the needle in a major way pretty quickly. Yeah, 0:17:58.400 --> 0:18:00.359 and here's the thing too, some of these changes can 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:02.480 seem kind of scary, right, Like we're talking about changing 0:18:02.480 --> 0:18:04.320 your housing, and to a lot of people, their home 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:07.960 is like represents security and it's this sort of safe place. Right. 0:18:08.200 --> 0:18:11.320 But here's the thing, Like, thinking through these things is 0:18:11.359 --> 0:18:13.760 an incredible exercise, like you said, to help us to 0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:17.160 focus on what it is we actually prioritize. Because yeah, 0:18:17.200 --> 0:18:19.520 you hear us say, oh you should consider moving, and 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:21.600